Once both City champions have been crowned, the player with the highest average score over all rounds played has home ground advantage, and can choose the location of the final, transport will then be organised with relevent parties.

Where a bracket has a odd number of participants, the player with the highest score from the previous round will get a bye from the current round. If there is no previous round, a random participant will get a bye.

Prize money will be the amount leftover from pool after transport arrangements have been made. 2/3 of the Amount to the Final Winner, and 1/3 to the Loser.

Game Rules:

* Each game is conducted in a public venue agreed by the two players, using a dictionary that the two players agree on.
* Players must contact each other to organise their rounds and they must do so promptly.
* An independant adjudicator/scorer must be present at the game, preferably the city organiser or their delegate
* In the event of a challenge, only the adjudicator may consult the dictionary. players may not handle or consult the dictionary themselves AT ALL.
* Each board and score sheet to be photographed and uploaded to m+n for the entertainment of all.
* Not turning up to your game is considered a forfeit.

*Specific Scrabble Rules: *

* Endgame: first person to put all their tiles down is the winner. the loser's tiles are added up and that number is subtracted from the loser's score, as well as added to the winner's score.
* Challenges: As per official scrabble rules, failed challenges result in the challenger losing their turn.

yep, i would come to melbourne, if i had the choice. i think. unless the contest drags on for a couple of months from here, when i'm probably going to be too busy. i suspect that whoever wins in melbourne will have a higher aggregate score than me though - some high scoring games down there!

Loadie - I've just calculated the averages of the remaining Melbournites in the comp. depending on what melbourne finalist i get, they're probably going to have a higher average than me. nightwatchman's average is currently 386 (though, i couldn't find his results against freaksy), flobs' is 348, and tabula rasa's is 312. so they're probably going to choose where the final is i reckon, unless the final rounds are tougher and more defensively played and bring down their averages.